Boss Jack

Ride this train to Dyess, Arkansas, see this cottonland

Some of us are so poor now you'd have to sell 'em a sack of fertilizer

To raise an umbrella

They grade the cotton according to the length and strength of the fibre

And they been raisin' a lot of fair to middlin' grade here which ain't good

But there was a time

Yeah there was a time when the cotton grew tall

Not far from here I had the finest plantation you ever saw

About 600 acres of the finest cottonland in the country

Now I believe this was about 1855 and I had a bumper crop that year

I had the best bunch of slaves you ever saw, and I treated 'em right

Well a lot of em even stayed with me after the war

But gettin' back to what I was gonna tell you

See I have a rule that all the slaves got to be back in out of the fields

And accounted for by sundown every day

And one day when they came in there was one short

Well I found out right away that it was old uncle Moses that was missin'

And figured that somethin' might have happened to him, old as he was

So I went out into the cottonfield to look for him

Well uncle Moses was way down at the end of the road sittin' on his cottonsack

Well I walked up and said Uncle Moses, don't you know the rule

That you're supposed to be punished if you're not back in and accounted for by dark

And he said, Boss Jack, I know that, sir

But I was pickin' along on my road

And all of a sudden somethin' seemed to come over me

And the finest words started comin' through my head, and the finest music

So I rememorized them words and that music till I had it all in my head

Now that I got the song all through I guess Boss Jack

I was ready to take my punishment

Well I didn't hardly know what to say

But I asked Uncle Moses to sing that song for me

And he stood up there and for the first time he sang Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Well, after that, I kinda laid old Uncle Moses off and let him peddle around the house

And every night at dark you could hear him sing

And he sang another song once in a while that made me feel awful proud

Pick a lot o'cotton drag a long sack

Comin' across the field well I see Boss Jack

He's a ridin' straddle of a single foot roan

When you know that horse you'll leave him alone

The ole roan's got green in his eyes

Mean as the devil and twice as wise

A fire in his nose and a bow in his back

Can't nobody ride him but Boss Jack

Come on, children, bend your back

Work a little faster, fill your sack

Then you hitch up the wagon take it to the gin

Finish pickin' before the winter sets in

Now, here while back when the crop was laid by

Remember who took us on a big fish fry

Caught a heap of catfish, goggle eye and carp

Dashed and sang to the guitar and the harp

Well someday old Boss Jack is gonna set us all free

Gabriel gonna blow for you and me

Angels gonna bring that chariot from above

Floppin' there wings like a turtle dove

Come on children bend your back

Work a little faster fill your sack

Then you hitch up the wagon take it to the gin

Finish pickin' before the winter sets in